The Latin quatrain on the lower frames of the Ghent altarpiece was rediscovered by Gustav Waagen聽at the K枚nigliches Museum in Berlin聽in 1823. At a period before the rise of archival research, it seemed to provide secure textual evidence聽for the work鈥檚 patron, date and authorship by Hubert and Jan van Eyck.聽聽Indeed, it聽defined the altarpiece as the聽earliest surviving dated work of early Netherlandish painting, reinforcing a long-standing perception that it represented the beginning of a new art. It was inevitable that the question of the quatrain鈥檚 authenticity would arise, initiating a debate that has continued to the present day.聽聽Addressing this debate from the point-of-view of the formal, visual and material aspects of the inscription, and considering its relationship to Jan van Eyck鈥檚 broader inscriptional practice, this talk considers the following questions: is the quatrain original, i.e. Eyckian? When was the present quatrain painted onto the frames of the altarpiece?
Susan Jones is currently聽Lecturer in Northern Renaissance at聽The Courtauld Institute. From 2014-16,聽worked at聽the KIK-IRPA (Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage) in Brussels聽on a collaborative聽documentation and research聽project on Jan van Eyck called theVERONA project. The technical and scientific聽images made for the project will be聽online later this year.